Many of the conservative nobility felt anger at that foreign interference, at the perceived weakness of the government under king Stanislaus Augustus, and at the provisions, particularly the ones that empowered non-Catholics, and at other reforms which they saw as threatening the szlachta's Golden Liberty.

In response to that, and particularly after Russian troops arrested and exiled several vocal opponents (namely bishop of Kyiv Józef Andrzej Załuski, bishop of Cracow Kajetan Sołtyk, and Field Crown Hetman Wacław Rzewuski with his son Seweryn), a group of Polish magnates decided to form a confederatio – a military association opposing the government[11][8] in accordance with Polish constitutional traditions.

[9] Its irregular forces, formed from volunteers, magnate militias and deserters from the royal army, soon clashed with the Russian troops and units loyal to the Polish crown.

[9] In 1770 the Council of Bar Confederation transferred from its original seat in Austrian part of Silesia to Hungary, whence it conducted diplomatic negotiations with France, Austria and Turkey with a view to forming a stable league against Russia.

[9] He fortified several fortresses around Kraków (Tyniec, Lanckorona, Częstochowa) and formed a Confederate infantry detachment to protect the warehouses in Podolia.

[12] The Confederates began operating in Lithuania, although after early successes that direction too met with failures, with defeats at Białystok on 16 July and Orzechowo on 13 September 1769.

[9] Early 1770 saw the defeats of confederates in Greater Poland, after the battle of Dobra (20 January) and Błonie (12 February), which forced them into a mostly defensive, passive stance.

In the end, the Bar Confederation was defeated, with its members either fleeing abroad or being deported to Siberia, Volga region, Urals by the Russians.

[17] Early in August, Russian, Prussian, and Austrian troops fighting the Bar confederation in the Commonwealth occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves.

[22] Bar Confederates taken as prisoners by the Russians, together with their families, formed the first major group of Poles and Lithuanians exiled to Siberia (sybirak).

[23] Around mid-18th century the European balance of power shifted, with Russian victories against the Ottomans in the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) strengthening Russia and endangering Habsburg interests in that region (particularly in Moldavia and Wallachia).

[citation needed] He was also interested in protecting the weakening Ottoman Empire, which could be advantageously utilized in the event of a Prussian war either with Russia or Austria.

[22] As Austria had annexed 13 towns in the Hungarian Szepes county in 1769, violating the Treaty of Lubowla, Catherine II of Russia and her advisor General Ivan Chernyshyov suggested to Henry that Prussia claim some Polish land, such as Ermland.

[21] The three powers officially justified their actions as compensation for dealing with troublesome neighbor and restoring order to Polish anarchy, for which the Bar Confederation provided a convenient excuse.

This was in light of the possible Austrian-Ottoman-Bar confederation alliance[17] with only token objections from Austria,[21] which would have instead preferred to receive more Ottoman territories in the Balkans, a region which for a long time had been coveted by the Habsburgs, including Bukovina.

[26] But in 1770s, during the times that the Imperial Russian Army marched through the theoretically independent Commonwealth, and foreign powers forced the Sejm to agree to the First Partition of Poland–Lithuania, the confederates started to create an image of Polish exiled soldiers, the last of those who remained true to their Motherland, an image that would in the next two centuries lead to the creation of Polish Legions and other forces in exile.